Have you come up with a calligram of your own? Send it to words@wordsmith.org or post it below.

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

calligram

PRONUNCIATION:

(KAL-i-gram)

MEANING:

noun: A word, phrase, or piece of text arranged to form a picture of the subject described.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French calligramme, from Greek calli- (beautiful) + -gram (something
written). Earliest documented use: 1923. A word with the same root is
callipygian.

NOTES:

One of the best-known practitioners of the form was the French poet
and writer Guillaume Apollinaire, whose work was published in the book
Calligrammes.

USAGE:

“In his calligram, not only does [Joseph Cornell] mention the names of
artists, poets, and musicians alongside the names of scientists and their
inventions, he also transforms the building of the laboratory/observatory
itself into a sort of puzzle of words.”
Analisa Pauline Leppanen-Guerra; Children’s Stories and “Child-Time” in
the Works of Joseph Cornell and the Transatlantic Avant-Garde; Ashgate
Publishing; 2011.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Beware the stories you read or tell; subtly, at night, beneath the
waters of consciousness, they are altering your world. -Ben Okri, poet and
novelist (b. 15 Mar 1959)